David Zollo performs as part of a High & Lonesome reunion concert in December 2010 at The Mill. / Sandra L. Dyas / Special to the Press-Citizen

Written by

Alesha L. Crews|Iowa City Press-Citizen

If you go

• What: Benefit for Brad Engeldinger with performances by High and Lonesome, David Zollo and The Body Electric, Brother Trucker and Ben Eaton. • When: 8 p.m. Saturday. • Where: The Mill Restaurant, 120 E. Burlington St. in Iowa City. • Cost: $18 in advance, $22 the day of the show. • Information:www.icmill.com.

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When High and Lonesome formed in Iowa City music scene in the early 1990s, the band became of powerful force on the regional club scene.

Headed by area singer and keyboardist David Zollo, High and Lonesome developed an enthusiastic fan base with a craving for the band’s unique mix of Southern rock with raunchy, splintering blues.

“It was always a madhouse, their fans were phenomenal and it was just a huge party,” said photographer Sandra L. Dyas, who captured much of the band’s career on film. “... I’d say in the state of Iowa they were probably drawing the biggest crowds, I don’t know that for a fact, but I know they were a phenomenon.”

The band has played a handful of reunion shows since it broke up in 1998 and will again come together in honor of former drummer Brad Engeldinger, who died in January in a car accident near Dorchester.

Along with High and Lonesome, Dave Zollo and the Body Electric — which Engeldinger also played with for seven years — Des Moines-based Americana roots band Brother Trucker and Minnesota-based musician Ben Eaton will perform. The show kicks off at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Mill Restaurant, with proceeds going to support Engeldinger’s widow and children.

Zollo — who spearheaded the reunion show effort — describes Engeldinger as a “great big roaring spirit” who committed himself to everything he did.

“He wore his heart on his sleeve, he was wonderfully opinionated and loud and garrulous and passionate about the things that he liked,” Zollo said. “He just really loved life and really embraced it and lived it fully.”

Engeldinger played with Zollo in High and Lonesome from 1992-94 and again in David Zollo and The Body Electric from 2000 to 2007, when he decided to put music on the back burner and spend more time with his family.

“He got to a point where he wanted to be with his family more, which is totally understandable,” Zollo said of Engeldinger’s decision to leave the band. “I told him that the rest of us will miss out because the world will be deprived of his playing, but it’s the right thing to do if you feel like it’s the time.”

For the next five years, Engeldinger played occasional shows with Zollo and other Iowa-based bands.

“His playing was very musical and passionate, you could tell watching him play that he loved what he was doing,” Zollo said. “Sweat and hair would be flying, he was a big guy and made a big noise. He was a fantastic drummer, a wonderful drummer.”

Zollo said he wants the benefit concert to focus on the music to which Engeldinger devoted much of his life and talent.

“In addition to providing some support for his widow and children, it’s to celebrate his life through the music that he loved and helped create and was such a part of,” Zollo said.

Dyas, who attended two of the band’s reunion shows in 2010, said she expects the benefit concert is going to be high-energy and fun for people of all ages.

“They get people crazy when they come together,” Dyas said of High and Lonesome. “And everybody has a great time.”